Copycat Keto

Some of my Instagram Keto followers have been patiently waiting for recipes I posted recently, so here I am am, staying up late, writing a second blog post, so you can have them. You're welcome! I just want to remind everyone, no food can be "keto". I see so-called Keto experts all the time ranting about people who insist on eating some food or another that isn't "keto".  However, ketosis is a metabolic state, and any food that allows a particular person to stay in ketosis can be a "keto" food. I'm mentioning this because one of these recipes has an ingredient that contains coconut palm sugar. So, before you start messaging me and hating on me, let me explain that I can eat both maple syrup and coconut sugar and stay in ketosis. If you can't stay in ketosis on these foods, then you can adapt the recipe to suit yourself.

The other night we had another sushi cheat meal for our anniversary date night. I can eat sushi and stay just barely in ketosis, so it wasn't too much of a cheat. Dr. Fung explains this is likely due to the vinegar in the sushi rice, which is protective of insulin surges. I do notice I have more hunger and cravings when I cheat, and that is why  I don't do it often. My most recent cravings have been for Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets with sauce, so I set out to create a Keto version. I did so well the nuggets were gone overnight. You can fry the chicken nuggets if you want. I just didn't feel like putting in all the effort so I oven fried them.

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Keto Copycat Chick-fil-a Nuggets & Sauce
Serves 6
Nuggets:
1 Tbsp garlic powder
2 eggs
Dill Pickle Juice to taste, about 1/2 cup
2 pounds chicken thighs, skinless and deboned, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups almond flour
1 Tbsp black pepper
2 Tbsp granulated monk fruit sweetener
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter

Sauce:
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar-free BBQ Sauce
Dill Pickle Juice to taste, about 1/8 cup
3 Tbsp monk fruit sweetener
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 Tbsp mustard

Beat eggs and mix with garlic powder and pickle juice. Toss mixture with chicken pieces. Melt 4 Tbsp butter in a 13x9 inch pan while the chicken marinates in the egg mixture. Mix dry ingredients and pour over chicken and egg mixture. Toss to evenly coat. Place the chicken in the pan with the melted butter. Spread into a single layer. Cut the remaining butter into cubes and spread over the chicken. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy. Using a slotted spoon transfer to a bowl lined with paper towels. Dab with paper towels to remove excess oil. Serve hot with dipping sauce. You can also fry the chicken in peanut or coconut oil; I just didn't feel like cleaning the fryer!

While the chicken is baking, mix all the sauce ingredients except the pickle juice. Stir in pickle juice until the sauce is as thick or thin as you desire. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For dessert I whipped up some low-carb edible cookie dough, which is something I've been craving. I used powdered peanuts, or peanut flour, as the base for this, and this ingredient has coconut palm sugar. Although this recipe comes out to 9.6 net carbs per tablespoon, coconut palm and coconut sugars are low-glycemic and don't affect blood sugar the way cane sugar does. I don't see any difference between eating this cookie dough and other versions made entirely with monk fruit. I also started Keto to help my diabetic son and not for weight loss, so my goal is different than many people who do Keto. I do want to lose weight, but my main focus is on feeding my kids so they can remain healthy, and as an insulin-dependent T1D, my son does need some carbs. If you don't want to use the peanut powder you could grind peanuts into flour yourself or you could substitute almond flour for the peanut powder and sub peanut butter for half the butter. I used an entire package of sugar-free chocolate chips but these get very hard in the fridge and they are still kind of high-carb, so next time I would probably use less.

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Keto Edible Chocolate Peanut Cookie Dough
Serves 16
1 cup peanut powder
8 Tbsp melted butter (or for softer dough, sub in 4 Tbsp peanut oil)
2 Tbsp granulated or powdered monkfruit sweetener
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Sugar-Free chocolate chips to taste

Mix all ingredients. Roll into balls about 1 tablespoon each. Refrigerate.
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